Pre-Championship Tournament 2017 Recap

EAU CLAIRE, Wisc. — On Sunday, June 25, 20 teams battled not only each other, but numerous weather woes as well. The day started cool and cloudy, but as it warmed, storm clouds started moving in and finally burst open with a very heavy rain. This would continue on and off for most of the afternoon. It wasn’t until the semifinals that the precipitation had finally waned.

The day started with random drawing for groups. The five groups of four teams then played every team in their group in the morning. During a lunch break, the teams were seeded into a championship bracket.

The beginning of bracket play coincided with the start of the rain. There were a few breaks during the worst downpours.

At this point in the day, the rain had passed, but the wind was so heavy, it made winning the king toss very important. In both semifinal matches, the winner of the lag would take the preferable side, and would go on to win the match 2-1. The final was set with Appetite for Destruction and Kubbanite.

To be more fair, the finals lag was thrown from the same side of the pitch. Kubbanite won the king toss and opted to take the preferred side. Appetite was able to adjust to the wind fast enough to take game one from the “bad” side. They moved to the “good” side with a game in hand. In game two, Kubbanite had to battle the ever changing wind, but they did it and evened up the match at one a piece. Game three was a classic back and forth. There were seven kubbs in play when Jochimsen made a big clear with only two batons. Appetite for Destruction would clear their remaining baseline kubb and the king to win the game and take home top honors.

In the third place game, Kubbitz won the lag and chose side. Lumber Tumblers were able to hang close, but ultimately could not overcome the wind. Kubbitz won the match 2-1 and took third place.

See photos from the tournament

About The Author

Christopher was introduced to kubb in 2013, played his first tournament in 2014, and has been obsessed ever since. He co-founded Kalamazoo Kubb and Kubb On, and is an active member of the St. Paul Kubb Society and Minnesota Kubb clubs. When not throwing batons, he is busy crafting great user experiences as an interaction designer.